Fremont teacher raises more than $80,000 in letter-writing fund-raiser

by Shannon Barry

Posted:
12/28/2012 09:01:47 AM PST

Christmas has passed but Shelbi Zeien's greatest wish of all will come true in less than two weeks thanks to the efforts of Claudine Dentoni, a second grade teacher at Azevada Elementary School.

The 17-year-old San Ramon resident along with her family in January will come face to face with teen idol Justin Bieber during a meet-and-greet and concert Jan. 7 in Denver a dream being granted by the Bay Area's Make-A-Wish Foundation.

"It's 19 days away, that's what I got to say," Zeien said, giggling, following one of two 30-minute assemblies Dec. 18 at Azevada. "The countdown has begun."

In preparation to meet the Biebs, Zeien and her father Ralph stopped by the school that morning to thank the thousands of children miles away in Fremont who helped turn her dream into a reality.

For each "Dear Santa" letter received throughout the holiday season as part ofÊits "Believe" campaign, Macy's donates $1 to Make A-Wish, up to $1 million. But on "Believe Day," Dec. 14, Macy's doubled that, donating $2 per letter.

Last year, Dentoni collected Santa letters from children through her Azevada school connections, raising around $5,000.

This year she delivered a fire truck full of 39,000 letters on Dec. 14 to the Macy's in Walnut Creek. Over the next few days, the letter count grew to 41,711 letters written across the entire Fremont Unified School District (10,000 alone from Azevada), raising $83,422.

"That is at least 10 wishes of people here in your area that you have made come true," said Leah Laderas, corporate relations manager for the Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation chapter.

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"And this is just one example of it."

Living with Crohn's

Macy's rolled out the red carpet for Zeien during a "wish enhancement" reception the same say as the letter drop-off, which included a limo ride and personal shopping experience. This gave Dentoni the chance to meet Zeien, who has been living more than a decade with Crohn's Disease, a chronic inflammatory disorder where the immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract.

"It went awhile before we really put two and two and two together," Ralph Zeien said following the assembly about his daughter's chronic condition that popped up when she was in third grade. "ÉThere were a lot of unrelated symptoms for a long time."

It wasn't until sixth grade that Shelbi Zeien was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, which stunted her growth for about four years in addition to causing a number of scares.

"With Crohn's, basically you can have a flare-up at any time," her dad explained.

When their family first moved from South Carolina to San Francisco three years ago, Shelbi Zeien had one which caused her to lose 25 pounds within a couple weeks and put her in the hospital for nearly a month before finding treatment options that made a positive change. She continues to have Remicade infusions regularly, and will have to for the remainder of her life in order to have lasting control over the disease.

"We never really felt that we were someone that needed to have a wish granted, to be honest with you," Ralph Zeien said. "We always looked at our situation and Shelbi looked at herself as normal, which we feel it is."

But after talking with close friends, Shelbi Zeien was encouraged to share her dream about meeting Bieber with the Make-A-Wish Foundation two years ago.

"I think you always want to have faith in people that they will do great things and help," Ralph Zeien said. "This is over and above what you'd ever expect."

As a small token of the organizations' gratitude to Dentoni for spearheading the letter writing project, Joy Deinla, cause marketing manager of the Northwest region for Macy's, presented the school with a $1,000 check.

"There is really no other way I can say that you are so privileged to have such a giving personality here in your school, someone who works tirelessly for others; for you and for all the wish children that are out there in the greater Bay Area," Deinla said. "There's really no way we can properly thank her for all the wonderful wishes she made come true, 10 in fact, except to keep encouraging her to make more letters next year, and to thank all of you."

Ralph Zeien hopes the season of giving spreads well throughout the coming year and the many to come for all who have been affected by becoming involved.

"These kids are lucky because they're young and to see what effects they have and that they do have an impact on a lot of people's lives, and hopefully it will stick with them for the rest of their lives so they will continue that tradition of helping others," he said.

Contact Shannon Barry at sbarry@themilpitaspost.com or 510-661-9920. Visit us on our social media sites at facebook.com/milpitaspost and twitter.com/milpitaspost.